Do You Know Where that Carbon has Been?

In my high school biology class, we’ve been learning about photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energywhich will be used as food for the organisms. However, let’s break this process down, click the link below to learn more about it.

Alright, let’s dig in, as the plants’ roots say. No matter if you’re a germ freak, like myself, people share air. I know, gross!!! The facts are that we as humans take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Plants take that trash we call carbon dioxide and transform it into new sugars. These sugars are glucose, but plants can’t store glucose; so what they do is convert the extra glucose into starch. When they need to use the energy, they can turn the starch back into glucose. This all occurs during the Calvin Cycle. The first stage in this cycle is carbon fixation. Yet, the overall idea of the Calvin Cycle, itself, is that it’s composed of various reactions that capture carbon dioxide. Two reactions that become of this complex cycle are the light-independent and light-dependent reactions.

Plants not only produce sugars, but proteins as well. They do this by absorbing nitrate through their roots and the soil. At this point, the plant combines this nitrate with oxygen, water, and carbon dioxide, along with a few others. These are the ingredients to make amino acids; proteins.